Start Date

November 2016

End Date

November 2016

Location

HUB 302-#79

Type of Presentation

Poster

Abstract

As Mars colonization becomes more of a reality for the current generation, economical and highly capable robotic devices are needed to aid the first colonizers. This robotic device must be capable of traversing a rugged terrain, transporting tools, manipulating objects in the environment from a remote location, and collecting Geological samples in hopes of finding signs of life.

Thus our team is in the process of designing a light-weight, economical, and innovative device which will collect soil samples semi-autonomously. The device will consist of a 3-D printed housing encasing both a soil caching container and a completely encased motor housing. The soil will be collected using an aluminum auger bit and a movable retention tube allowing the soil to be transported to the collection container at the top of the device.

In order to collect subsurface soil it is desirable to have the retention tube actuate over the auger. Initially the auger will be unsheathed up 5cm to allow a pilot hole to be drilled which will eject the surface soil. The device will then need to be removed from the hole and the retention tube must fully encase the auger to allow transportation to the cache. The device must also be capable of testing the sample in the field, requiring a soil moisture-temperature-dielectric probe which must be measured at the subsurface level.

Previous iterations of this device featured a large steel auger which was purchased instead of manufactured, thus this iteration will be much more lightweight and tailored to our application. The device relied on collecting the soil sample within the retention tube instead of transporting the sample into its own caching container and reversing the auger to remove the surface soil. I will be presenting both the 3D printed prototype and the conceptual model of my final design.

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Nov 12th, 4:00 PMNov 12th, 5:00 PM

Automated Soil Caching Device for Interplanetary Exploration

HUB 302-#79

As Mars colonization becomes more of a reality for the current generation, economical and highly capable robotic devices are needed to aid the first colonizers. This robotic device must be capable of traversing a rugged terrain, transporting tools, manipulating objects in the environment from a remote location, and collecting Geological samples in hopes of finding signs of life.

Thus our team is in the process of designing a light-weight, economical, and innovative device which will collect soil samples semi-autonomously. The device will consist of a 3-D printed housing encasing both a soil caching container and a completely encased motor housing. The soil will be collected using an aluminum auger bit and a movable retention tube allowing the soil to be transported to the collection container at the top of the device.

In order to collect subsurface soil it is desirable to have the retention tube actuate over the auger. Initially the auger will be unsheathed up 5cm to allow a pilot hole to be drilled which will eject the surface soil. The device will then need to be removed from the hole and the retention tube must fully encase the auger to allow transportation to the cache. The device must also be capable of testing the sample in the field, requiring a soil moisture-temperature-dielectric probe which must be measured at the subsurface level.

Previous iterations of this device featured a large steel auger which was purchased instead of manufactured, thus this iteration will be much more lightweight and tailored to our application. The device relied on collecting the soil sample within the retention tube instead of transporting the sample into its own caching container and reversing the auger to remove the surface soil. I will be presenting both the 3D printed prototype and the conceptual model of my final design.